


The White Scarf

by Noemi_Artistries



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Frisk is a Sweetheart, Frisk vs Gaster, Gaster why are you doing this, Gen, Handplates, Sans and Papyrus don't deserve this, Symbolism, Undyne is just tired, handplates AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-04-01 07:24:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13993344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noemi_Artistries/pseuds/Noemi_Artistries
Summary: When Frisk and Undyne came across Hotland's labratory, specifically Dr. W.D. Gaster's work, they could never have predicted what they saw down in the basement. Frisk could only be grateful that Dr. Gaster had a large scarf collection.Based onZarla's Handplates AU on Tumblr. Thank you for creating this AU!





	1. The White Scarf

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a bit old, but I wanted to post this here. I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> Feedback is greatly appreciated! :)

Undyne is a stubborn fellow. That much Frisk knew. It took them a long time to become friends with the fish warrior. It also took them all their might to stop the Captain of the Royal Guard from burning her house down as well. It took lots of patience, dodging, and fake fighting.

Yet, nothing Undyne threw at them could be compared to the sheer dodging Frisk had to accomplish when they met the Royal Scientist himself, W.D. Gaster. The sheer amount of bone attacks that were currently chasing the young child was ridiculous. Despite every ACT they could muster, every option of MERCY they threw at the skeleton, the result was the same. The doctor always rewarded the human’s efforts with more attacks. 

Right now, all Frisk could say about the matter were the distant screams of Alphys and Gaster screaming at her to do something. The young child had managed to topple something on top of the Royal Scientist and was currently running head first to a door in the laboratory. Not bothering about what was on the other end of the hall. 

Soon the human was met with a doorway covered in rays, with a small keypad next to the doorframe. The human took out their phone and desperately tried everything to make the door open. They opened the app that allowed them to understand what Doctor Gaster was saying, in hopes that the touchpad was voice activated. 

Turns out, it was. 

Frisk ran through the deactivated door and into a lab looking place.  _ Huh, _ the human thought.  _ A lab under a lab. Wonder why? _

The human walked into a room with a wardrobe. It had a couple of scarves in it. Frisk noticed a white scarf. The human was cold in the lab, so they decided to take it. It seemed very warm to the young child. Surprisingly, it felt like it belonged to someone that used to be a bright and happy fellow. Someone that was maybe one of the most merciful and kind monsters they could have ever met. 

As Frisk continued to run for their life, they suddenly heard a voice. It was slightly high pitched. The voice of a child.

Frisk decided to quickly follow the voice. Maybe whoever it was could help them in negotiating with Gaster. 

Yet, when Frisk turned the corner and found the source, they couldn’t believe their eyes. 

There, in a cell with a touchpad next to it, were two young looking skeletons. One was a tall, Gaster-looking skeleton with the sweet high voice. The other was a short, somehow plump skeleton that was wrapped up in a blanket. 

“Wh-What are you two doing here?” The human asked, completely in shock. 

The two monsters looked up, the taller one with a surprised look, the other simply looking tired and uninterested. 

They started to speak random words that Frisk recognized as Gaster’s speech. They quickly took out their phone again and spoke into it. 

“Uh… Hello?” Frisk’s voice came out in what Alphys said to be Wingdings. 

The two skeleton got up, a bit shocked. “Oh! Hello! Are you a lab assistant?” Replied the taller skeleton. 

Frisk looked down and saw that the phone read the words “Papyrus” over the translation of the skeleton’s speech. It used to say “W.D. Gaster”. 

“Huh…” Frisk said. “‘Papyrus’... That’s your name!” 

“Papyrus” looked at the human in surprise. “My...name?”

Frisk smiled. “Yeah! My phone here says that your name is Papyrus!” The human suddenly stopped smiling. “Don’t you know your own name?”

The tall skeleton looked down, not answering. The shorter skeleton got up. 

“Are you going to do your tests or not?” He asked, clearly annoyed. 

The phone now read “Comic Sans”. Frisk just stared at the two skeletons.

“Did… Did Dr. Gaster do… tests on you guys? Why?” The human managed to muster. 

Sans stared at the human. Then he shrugged. “Eh. I don’t know why he does anything.” He glared at the human. “You don’t really know what we’ve been through, do you…?”

Frisk looked down, unable to answer. “Is this why I can’t be friends with him…?” Frisk began, causing the two skeletons to jump in surprise. 

“What do you mean?” Papyrus asked.

Frisk sat on the floor, hugging their legs. “I always try to spare him, talk to him, but he always says that ‘my soul is to valuable to pass up’ and starts attacking me again.” 

Sans stared at Frisk for a moment, then through the bars, he rubbed the child’s head slightly. “You’re a human. Aren’t ya?” 

Frisk nodded slightly, tired from all the things that has happened to them over the course of this journey. 

Suddenly, the young child heard footsteps. It was no doubt the Royal Scientists himself.

Frisk quickly used their phone to imitate Gaster’s voice. The bars that were trapping the two skeletons were gone. 

“Thank God for Alphys and her rants about programming.” Frisk said, as they grabbed the two skeletons and started running towards a separate door leading up to Alphys’ lab. 

They made their way back up to the lab and without acknowledging anything, Frisk dragged Sans and Papyrus to the Riverperson. 

“Hello.” They said. “Would you like a ride? A ride on a boat?”

Frisk nodded feverishly, telling them to go to Waterfall as soon as possible. The boat set off just as Gaster had burst out through the doors to the Lab. 

Frisk sighed in relief as the Laboratory was getting farther and farther away from them. They turned back to the others and saw Papyrus eyeing the white scarf.

Frisk took out their phone again. “What is it Paps?”

Papyrus looked up at the young human. “Oh, it’s just that he used to say that this scarf belonged to a young skeleton that had lost their entire family in a war.”

Frisk looked down. “Oh.”

Papyrus placed a hand on the child’s shoulder. “Hey! It’s okay. That monster was someone who was very kind and merciful. Well, I don’t know what happened to him after him family died though. He,... never said.”

Frisk had a theory though. They looked closely at the scarf.

***The White Scarf. Defense 20. A fragment of the past.**

Papyrus hugged the human, and soon brought Sans into it as well.

Soon, the three children were hugging each other as they made their way to Waterfall. 

Frisk bared farewell to the Riverperson and they lead Papyrus and Sans to Undyne’s house. 

The young child knocked on the door and soon saw Undyne opening her door. She looked a bit surprised.

“Hey punk! Uh… Who are these two?” 

Frisk gripped their scarf and sighed. “It’s a long story Undyne.” 

In the mass of explaining everything to Undyne, she had discovered the handplates drilled into the two boys’ hands. Frisk felt ashamed that they hadn’t noticed it earlier. All their suspicions about Gaster were now a reality. 

Undyne had to soon call for some guards to protect the children as she prepared to confront the Royal Scientist about the incident. She gave the two skeletons some clothes and ordered Frisk to help them in dressing. 

Frisk helped the two to start dressing in the black top and bottom, sweatpants, red scarf, white sweater, and blue jacket Undyne had provided. They decided to dress Paps in the black top and bottom and scarf. Sans was left with the sweatpants, sweater, and jacket. They looked pretty nice, now that they were free from the green rags. 

Papyrus smiled at his scarf. “Human look! Now we match!” 

Frisk gave Papyrus a tired smile and sat down next to Sans.

“You okay Sans?” Frisk asked the shorter skeleton.

He stayed silent for a while. Then he replied, “Not really.”

Papyrus sat on the other side of his brother and hugged him. “It will be okay brother.”

Frisk got up and looked at the door. They turned back to look at the skeleton brothers. “Sorry guys, but I need to keep moving.”

Sans looked up. “You’re going back?” 

Frisk nodded slightly. “Don’t worry, I have Undyne and Alphys! They can help me out as I make my way through Hotland. You guys will be safe here.”

Papyrus looked sad for a moment. Sans just stared at Frisk, his eye lights gone, making the human child nervous. “Why?”

The human looked down. “So I can go home…” They began. “But I have to meet ASGORE. I don’t know… If this is the right choice…” 

Sans got up, and hugged the human. “Hey, if you freed us, then you can do anything.”

Paps smiled. “Yeah! Go on human! Once Undyne is back, maybe we can find a way to talk to you. Through that ‘phone’ thing you mentioned earlier!”

The two skeletons smiled. “Good luck!” They both said in unison as Frisk hugged them before they departed. 

The child waved one more time before leaving the house now protected by Greater and Lesser Dogs. 

They glanced at the White scarf again. 

***The White Scarf. Defense 20. A fragment of the past.**

The human was determined to be there for their new friends, even if it meant having to stay in the Underground forever. 

Flowey was right for once. This RESET has opened new things to the determined human that has given them more hope for a better future. 


	2. Responsibility

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is a bit old, but I wanted to post this here. I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> Feedback is greatly appreciated! :)

The fallen human secretly prayed for the Riverperson. Over the course of an hour, Frisk managed to meet two new skeleton brothers, who for some reason we're locked in the infamous Royal Scientist's lab. After dragging the two monster children out of the lab, and having a scaffold with Gaster, Frisk managed to bring them to safety via the Riverperson. If it weren't for them, dear God, Frisk would probably have died at the hands of the doctor yet again. 

And Sans and Papyrus would still have been imprisoned. 

Honestly, Frisk was surprised they managed it without **RESETTING** . Waterfall honestly never had looked more friendlier. 

Even if it only had been a couple of minutes in the boat, Frisk already missed the skeleton brothers. They had left them to be protected by the guard dogs, by Undyne's order. 

Frisk didn't really want to return to Hotland after what happened. But they knew that they had to. 

"Beware the man that speaks in hands." The Riverperson suddenly said. Frisk sighed. 

"I know buddy. I know." 

After a little bit, Frisk quietly entered the laboratory. It was a bit dark. 

"Alphys? Mettaton?" Frisk gulped. "D-Dr. Gaster?"  

Frisk turned around to face the talk skeleton, his eyes glowing a bright yellow. 

_ Crud, _ Frisk thought to themselves. 

"You really are something, aren't you,... Human?" He began. 

Frisk didn't know what to say. "Where is Alphys and Mettaton?" 

Gaster's expression did not change. "They evacuated. Under the captain of the Royal Guard's orders." 

Frisk began to fidget. "Doctor..." They began. "I-I didn't m-mean for any t-trouble." They finally stuttered. 

"I know." Gaster replied, surprising the young human. "You did what any sensible, heartfelt person would have done." 

Frisk just stared unsure of what to do. 

***Did you hear him right?**

"But," Gaster began. "That doesn't excuse the fact that your soul is needed for our freedom." 

Frisk started to sweat. "Doctor, please, there is, there must be another wa-" 

"At least their freedom was your last act for monster kind. Now, die human." 

A giant skull appeared before Frisk. Their pupils shrunk as the skull's mouth started to hum, like a laser. 

The human barely had time to dodge before they were met with another blaster appeared behind them. They kept on dodging, but eventually, the blaster hit the human child. 

Frisk groaned as they hit the ground. They looked up and screamed as their field of vision was completely wiped by another blaster, who's magic engulfed their soul. 

**CRACK.**

***You cannot give up just yet!**

***Stay determined...**

Frisk opened their eyes to the door of the laboratory, looming ahead. 

They hugged their knees, and just cried. 

And cried. 

And cried. 

***...**

***But nobody came.**

Frisk willed their tears away, and glanced back at the lab. 

This is horrible. 

They walked in slowly. Frisk looked around for the Doctor, and soon turned around when they noticed the yellow glowing once again. 

Gaster had an emotionless expression on his face. "This is hopeless, isn't it?" 

Frisk shook their head. "What?"  

Gaster frowned. "You think I haven't ever felt the weird deja' vu that happens in this place?" 

Frisk's face became unreadable. They didn't know how to react. 

***Someone other than Flowey that knows...!**

"Ever since that wretched flower appeared, I knew something was wrong with the timeline. The sense that everything was repeating has been too obvious to ignore.

"Furthermore," He continued. "Recently it has been happening more frequently. Every time you die, the timeline resets yet again." 

Gaster stared coldly at the young human. "What is the point of fighting someone who will eventually memorize all my attacks and beat me?" 

Frisk looked down. "You seem like someone that is determined as well." 

Gaster smiled. "You're right. Which is why I won't give up. You don't have right over this timeline, human." 

Frisk shrugged. "I like to think I'm better than Flowey." 

Gaster frowned. Frisk was waiting for the blaster to appear. They quickly dodged the attacks and confronted Gaster. 

***ACT.**

***Check.**

***W. D. Gaster. ATK ??? DEF ??? The Royal Scientist of the Underground.**

"Crud," Frisk muttered. 

"Just die damn it!" Gaster cried out. "Do you really think that hugging everyone you meet and friendship can save you?" 

Frisk frowned. "Yes Dr. Gaster. I do believe that!" 

More bone attacks. Then suddenly,

***You're blue now.**

_ What!?  _ Frisk thought to themselves. They could not move themselves as freely as they pleased.

Then, SLAM. 

SLAM!

SLAM! 

**CRACK.**

***This is just a bad dream!**

***Stay determined.**

Frisk groaned in frustration. They ran back into the lab, their face filled with  **DETERMINATION** . 

"Kill me all you want Doc. I'm not backing down." The fallen human cried out into the lab's darkness. 

Gaster's yellow eye glowed in the darkness, revealing the scientist yet again. 

"Then let us begin." 

And it began yet again. 

 

* * *

 

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" 

Frisk, with their one HP, turned around to see Undyne looming over them. 

Gaster stopped in his tracks. 

Undyne had interrupted the fight. Frisk gave her a grateful smile. If it wasn't for her, this would have been their 31st death. 

"What you have done is unforgivable, Doctor W. D. Gaster." Undyne stated. 

Gaster released the human's soul and placed his hands behind his back. 

"I won't apologize." He stated, his face stoic. "If you want to kill me, then do it."

Frisk stared up at the Doctor with a melancholy look. They shook their head at Undyne. 

Gaster started at the child, and then back at the Captain. "I have no defense for what I've done." 

Undyne glared at the skeleton. "You'll have to answer to King Asgore, not me." 

Gaster flinched, if only for a moment. 

He followed Undyne out the door. Frisk shook their head in dismay. 

"Wait!" They called out. 

Gaster turned around to face the human child. 

Frisk gripped the white scarf they had been where all this time. 

They had gotten it from Gaster's True Lab. Papyrus had explained that the scarf once belonged to some skeleton before the Human Monster War. That skeleton was a kind hearted and compassionate monster. Then, during the war, his entire family had died. Pap didn't know what happened to the skeleton afterwards. 

But Frisk had a theory. 

***The White Scarf. DEF 20. A fragment of the past.**

"D-Dr. Gaster!" Frisk called out. "Is it okay if I keep this scarf?" 

Gaster's stoic expression did not change. "Keep it safe. Keep them safe." 

Frisk wasn't expecting that response from Gaster. It seemed off-character for him. 

Frisk nodded. "I won't let you all down. I promise." 

Undyne just scowled. "Let's go. Frisk! Mind calling Al to make sure she's okay?" 

Frisk nodded, their mind a storm of thoughts. 

Once Gaster was lead away, Frisk frantically ran to the Riverperson, exclaiming that they needed to go to Waterfall. 

Deep down, Frisk knew they didn't feel ready for Hotland. 

_ Just,... Not yet.  _

They needed to talk to Sans and Papyrus. 

Maybe they can help piece together this mystery. 

Frisk gripped their scarf. 

***The White Scarf. DEF 20. A fragment of the past.**

After all, now those two were a part of Frisk's responsibility. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is a bit old, but I wanted to post this here. I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> Feedback is greatly appreciated! :)


	3. Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is a bit old, but I wanted to post this here. I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> Feedback is greatly appreciated! :)

Frisk looked at the door intently, wanting to knock but not finding it in themselves to do so. 

The last time the human had seen the doctor was Hotland, back when they were all stuck Underground. It has been 10 years since the the Barrier broke. It has been 10 years since Frisk found Sans and Papyrus in the doctor’s true lab. 

After they were freed, the three children went on to live with Toriel. The past decade had been a huge part of Frisk’s life. They had grown into a young adult, no longer the silly little child that either flirted or hugged everyone they saw. 

Their two brothers definitely had their own PTSD’s to deal with. Yet both Frisk and Toriel made sure that Sans and Papyrus could move past what had happened to them.

Toriel had forbid even mentioning the doctor’s name in the house, let alone visit him. Nobody, not even Sans or Papyrus, knew that they were here. Frisk kept staring at the door nervously, unsure of what to do. 

_ I have to be able to move past this, _ They thought to themself.  _ It’s time I start doing that.  _

Frisk raised their hand and knocked firmly at the door. There was no reply.

Then a muffled, “Who is it?” came through the door. 

Frisk took a deep breath, and then gave their response.

“Dishes.”

Silence ensued for a moment before a tired voice responded. “Dishes who?”

Frisk grinned. “Dishes a very bad knock knock joke.”

They started to giggle, even though no response was coming from the other end of the door. Then the human heard a creak.

And their, in all his minimal glory, was Dr. W.D. Gaster.

His expression more tired looking than stoic. Then again, it looked like a combination. 

Frisk smiled at him. “May I come in Doc?”

Gaster did not respond for a moment. Then he sighed and made way for them to enter. 

“What do you want, child?” Gaster asked, folding his arms when the human entered. 

Frisk shrugged. “First off, I’m no longer a kid. Second of all, I have a couple of questions to ask you.”

Gaster gave them a skeptical look. “What is it?”

Frisk pulled out their notebook for their school bag. “So, um… Let’s say I have a friend that is currently having magic problems. No monster of significance, just little magic problems. Let me also say that they preferred to not come here because they were busy. I wanted to ask, how do you handle power surges as you get older?”

Gaster just stayed silent for a moment before rubbing his head in annoyance. “Is it Papyrus?” 

Frisk just stared at the doctor, before taking a deep breath. “Why would you care?”

Gaster’s face dropped for only a moment, shock on his face at the words the supposed pacifistic human had uttered. But he quickly regained his posture. 

“It was simply a guess. 2-P… I mean Papyrus has always showed more aptitude for magic than… Sans. And honestly, it has to be one of them since they basically live with you.”

Frisk stared deep into Gaster’s eye sockets. “Why?”

He looked at the human, aggravated. “I don’t need to explain anything to you huma-”

“Yes you dang well do.” Frisk got up. “It took me a decade to actually come here and tell you this. It still is taking time for my brothers to heal from the hell you put them through. Gaster, you hurt people. Do you not give a shred of a care to at least Alphys, Toriel, Asgore?”

Gaster gripped the human’s arm, staring down at them, his eyes giving off a slight red light. 

“I do not need to explain myself to the likes of you.”

Frisk frowned. “Yes you do. ‘Cause guess what? You owe me. I am the reason you are like this today. I am the reason you had to own up to your mistakes. I am the one who gave you a chance to walk away from your mistakes. But you, W.D. Gaster, you never took any of those opportunities. Alphys came to you. She knows what you went through. What you are  _ still  _ going through. Yet you gave the excuse, ‘I am not worthy of even being talked to’, and pushed more people away.

“Of course you're not worthy! You hurt people! You tortured children! You killed me 50 times without batting an eye socket! You buried yourself so deep that you literally became a monster! But that didn’t stop Alphys, Asgore, heck, even Papyrus from coming to see you! ‘Cause guess what? That’s how love works!” Frisk screamed at the tall skeleton. 

The red glow was more evident now. 

“Listen here child. I am not an accomplishment for your little game. I am not someone meant to be spared and reformed. I am not meant to be part of anyone’s life anymore. It is better if I am not. Alphys’ sins were accidental. She eventually stopped. I did not stop. Like you said, if it weren’t for you, Papyrus and Sans would never have existed. They would still be-”

Frisk cut him off. “DON’T you dare.” They glared at the skeleton in anger. 

Gaster scoffed at them. “Human, I will admit that you are far kinder than any human I have ever met. Yet, it doesn’t change the fact that you are too determined. Some people don’t want to change.” Gaster’s eyes stopped glowing. “I do not want to change.”

Frisk just stared at him, unable to comprehend just how stubborn he was. 

They smiled. “Well then, let me tell you an allegory Doctor.

“Once, I was talking to Sans. We were walking home from school. Somehow, you came up in our discussions. I have never felt true hatred for someone in anyone before until that day.

“Sans wished you were dead. He wished you never existed. And you know what’s even more funny? I had a dream just a couple of days ago about something like that. It was a dream where I was back underground. I met Sans and Papyrus back in Snowdin, and they were adults. It was almost like you never existed.”

Gaster stared at the human, trying his best to keep a straight face. Despite everything, Frisk thought. He’s still too curious for his own good.

“Then, when I got to the Judgement Hall, Sans met up with me. He gave me a spiel about how I did the right thing in sparing everyone. Then, for some reason, I RESET in the dream. Each time I RESET at the Judgement Hall, Sans kept making jokes about a secret codeword that would make him know whether I was a time-traveler or not. He eventually gave me the keys to his room back in Snowdin.

“I went there and found his keys to a room locked in the back of his house. It was a little laboratory, with a machine behind a tarp. There were blueprints that resemble your handwriting. It was then that I realized that Sans still remembered you. That doesn’t make a lot of sense, until you consider other things. I found a picture of you, Sans, and Papyrus, with the words ‘Don’t Forget’ on them. It looked like one of Pap’s drawings.”

Frisk looked at Gaster, frowning. “Why do you think Sans was the only one that ever remembered you huh?”

Gaster looked at the human, then sighed. “How would I know?”

Frisk looked down. “I asked Sans this morning a question.”

“What was it?” Gaster asked, playing along with the human.

“I asked, ‘If you had the chance to erase Him from existence, would you do it?’”

Gaster, for the first time, glowed a pink color in front of Frisk.

“And he said yes.”

Frisk nodded. “Gaster, why do you think you are living this life?”

Gaster shrugged. “Punishment?”

Frisk shrugged. “How would I know? Everything that has happened to you has happened because of your actions. I always wondered, if you family hadn’t passed away, would you have turned out any different?”

Gaster stared at the human, his face showing anxiety and stress. His stoic expression was long gone. 

“Do think on that doctor.” Frisk said as they stood up to leave.

At the door frame, Frisk turned around and held up the white scarf they were wearing. 

***The White Scarf. DEF 20. A fragment of the past.**

“Gaster, I’m not one to tell you how to live. You probably hate me for all the things I represent. For all the things I did. You did this to stop others from feeling pain, and because of me, now you caused them more pain. And yeah, my methods of freeing you all weren’t up to your morals, but I honestly don’t care anymore. You hurt many people, but even they chose to move on. You staying in the same place is going to kill you eventually. And when that time comes, be sure to know that your death will still hurt people. You still will hurt people. 

“You haven’t left yet because you still have a purpose in this life. Stop hurting people, Wingdings.”

And with that, the human began to leave the scientist.

“Wait.”

Frisk stopped but did not turn around. 

“I-Thank you for taking care of my scarf… Frisk.”

Frisk didn’t turn around, but smiled. “I’ll send Alphys here later so you can explain to her on how skeleton magic works.”

He didn’t respond, which Frisk took as a ‘yes.’

_ That’s a good sign,  _ the eighth fallen human thought as they made their way back to their family. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is a bit old, but I wanted to post this here. I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> Feedback is greatly appreciated! :)

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a bit old, but I wanted to post this here. I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> Feedback is greatly appreciated! :)


End file.
